Means for connecting and disconnecting reciprocating engines.



s, s. SMITH. MEANS FOR CONNECTING AND DISOONNEGTING BEOIPBOOATING ENGINES.

APPLIOATIONPILED JAI.15, 196a.

905,011. Patented Nov12 1, 1908.

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Witnesses I 314004601,

' SENWER 5:. SMITH UNITED saa pnsa a rnmy carton.

SEAMER S. SMITH, OF OSAGll, l()\\'.-\.

MEANS FOR CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING BECIPROCATING ENG}. 3.1.5 55.

To all whom it may concern:- I

l 3e it known that I Shanna S. Syr an a citizen of the United. States, andaa es dent of Osage, in the county of lilitchell and State of Iowa, have invented certain new'and useful Improvements in Means for-Connecting and Disconnecting Reciprocating Engines, of which the following is a specification.v

The object of my invention is to easily and quickly disconnect any reciprocating engine, and especially those ofa lOLOiYlOiiVQ,2H1(l leavethe same balanced after it has been. disconnected, as it was while working. or under normal working conditions. in such engine construction, counterl'ialances'are used to equalize the weight'ot' the pitinan or connecting'rod.

By the present method, when such engines are disconnectechto prevent the piston from moving while other parts of the engine are 1n motlon, the .connecting rod is taken down or removed. 3133' such taking down or re..'

moval of the connecting red, the engine is taken out of balance equal to the number of pounds of the said part orparts removed.

' When the condition of being thus out of balance exists in any such engine, and especially where two or more engines work in conjunction, as in a locon'lotive; and movement of the same is imparted by the application of power in or to its parts. its frame and structuresarefldama'ged and injured by this une ual counte'rbala ncing. Damage and injury also results to all track systems, t'onndations. or supports with which such engine connected or comes in contact.

f I.letei-e11ce is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the fig ures.

Figure 1 is a sideview of an engine with my improvements; With-cylinder casing and shell partly in section. Fi 1 is a top plan r the valve 'rod.

View in detail of the lock Fig. 2 are detached view'sfof the coupling for the piston rod. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional. View of the engine on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the crosshead, its sleeve and bushing, and the tapered portion of piston-rod.

By the use of my invention the disc'onnec tion of an engine can be accomplished without taklng down or removing the connecting rod, or pitma-n, thus leaving the engine prop- SPe-cificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1909 Application fiIedJanu-aryIH; 1908. I Serial No. 410.941.

tendant upon present methods.

My invention en'al'iles' 'me to secure this re sult by blanking all ports of the sieanrchest, disconnecting thepiston-rod from the crosserly balanced. and. a\'oiding-- all damage athead and lockingthe piston and Pl iOll-l0tl in the forward end of the cylinder.

To blank all the ports of the steam-chest. I provide a right angular or bracket shaped metal spring f,l*igs. 1 and 1. bolted to the rear end of the steam-chest. and eviending back a short distance. parallel to and alongside. but at a slight distance from thevalvestem H. In. the back end of this'spring f, a hole is made. \Vith the valve so adjusted that all ports are blanked in the steanrehest; as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l. a hole is made through the valve-stem ll at a point directly' opposite the hole in rear end of spring f. 'lhrough the hole in this spring and valve-stema screw or bolt 9. is inserted. The section H of the valve rod' is formed with a telescopic tube sliding over the valve stem H and pinned to it. -'lhe sections are separated by renmving their connecting pin. This disconnects the valve from its working machinery and locks thevalve with all ports securely blanked.

To disconnect the piston-rod. this is eft'eeted at the juncture of the piston-rod and cross-head. its means to accomplish this. I provide a piston-rod l3. tapering and threaded at the rear end I1. and a bushing I). which-is screwed over the tapered threaded end of the piston-rod. The outside of this bushing is also-slightly tapered. The sleeve C of the cross-head (l is reamed out to ceive bushing l). and the bushing l) is titted into the sleeve of the. ('llOSS-llttltl as in Figs. 1 and 4. 'The bushing 1) and threaded end of the piston nod have registering key holes I] and rl', as. has also the sleeve C. of the (Toss-head, and a key 1 is inserted transversely through these holes, binding the parts securely together and coupling the piston-rod to the pitman or connecting rod 1. The disconnection. is secured'as follows: Remove the transversekey F, then remove the sleeve C of the cross-head from the bushing and then unscrew the bushing from the pistoh-rod. i To lock the piston and piston-rod in the forward end of the cylinder. this is achieved by means of a lock-nut I), l and i provided with a sleeve (1 having threads insideiltl end of and outside.

extended portion of stufling-gland.

Te secure the result of lockingthe pistorif and piston rod in the front end of the cylinder,- the lock-nut E is screwed forward on the threaded piston-rod, and into the extended, threaded portion of the stufling-gland a at the rear end of the cylinder-head, a s seen on the right of ,Fig; 2, thus securing the piston in the front of the cylinder. When the piston is in the forward end. of the cylinder, the threaded portion of the piston rod is all outside of the stufiing gland. \Vhen not in use, this locking-nut is screwed back on the piston-rod, to and in contact with the front end of bushing D and is there secured by v inserting-a set-screw az between the two, as' seen in Fig. 1. To turn the bushing D and loclcnut E,wtl1e flanges of these--parts are provided with spanner holes as seen in Figs. land 2L 1 Thusis accomplished theresult of full disconnection; permitting the cross-head to travel back and forth between the guides without; connection with or, interruption from the piston-iodand piston," carrying the pitman or ,connecting rod P in its normal position;- leaving the engine properly balanced, and avoiding the expense, delay, and damage attendant upon present,1 netl1ods and practices thedisconnection ofthe pistonrod-and connectingQrfio'db'eing eflected without disturbingthelalinement and connection 9f either part; I

YI'do not limit myself to the details of con struction illustrated 'in the drawings and herein specifically described, as these may obviously be, varied in many particulars,

Without departing from my invention I Ol&lHl-- ,1. A) reciprocating engine comprisingja i'ston rod, cross head connecting rod, and a screw couplingllocated between the cross headand piston-rod for disj connecting the same without disturbing the connections and alinernent of either,

" 2. A' reciprocating engine comprising a cylinder, piston, piston-rod, cross head eonneoting rod and means fordisconnecting the cylinder, pistfon, I

The inner threads screw over thethreads on the piston-rod, between the bushin D and stuffing-gland", ,at the rear v the cylinder head, and the outer threads screw into the threads within the soap 11 piston rod and connecting rodwithout disturbing the connections and alinement of either, said means consisting of a screw coupling located between the crossihead and piston rod and separable-by a longitudinal movement, I

3 reciprocating engine comprising a cylinder, piston, piston-rod, cross head and connecting rod, and means for disconnecting the same withoutdisconnect-ing or removing the connecting rod, consisting of a separable coupling located between the cross' head and piston rod, and means for locking the piston rod to the cylinder when disconnected at the ,coupling. p

4:. The combination of a screw-threaded stufiing-gland on the steam cylinder, a piston rod having a threaded end, a lock-nut threaded outsideanciside, the inside threads {fit- -ting the tlirea piston-rod, and the outside threads fitting the stufling-gland, whereby the piston and piston-rod'nre secured in the 75 front end of the cylinder.

5. The combination with a sleeved cross ,head and a-piston rod having a threaded 'end, of a removable bushing, fitted within the sleeve of the cross-head, and screwthreaded/interiorl'y to fit the threaded end of the piston-rod, and a key inserted transversely .throughout the whole,'and binding the same securely together.

6. A reciprocating engine, comprising a cylinder, piston, pi ton-rod, cross-head, connecting rod, and a screw coupling located between the piston -rod and cross-head, whereby the en ine may be disconnected at thejuncture of the piston-rod and crosshead, without disturbing the connectlons and alinement of said pa ts thereby leaving such -engine balanced.

'7.-Thecombination in a reciprocatingengine; of aport-blanking device for the valve,- alock for securing the piston in the forward endof cylinder, a cross head and piston-rod, a bushing fitted into the crosshead, and onto the rear end ofpiston-rod, and removable from said position, and means 100 forqconnecting the same. 4 v v SEAMER S SMITH.

\Vitnesses;

J. SWENEY,

. E. MoLAIN. 

